The Office of Urban Conservation was created in 1975 as part of the Department of Community Development (DCD). It was founded in an era of citizen protests against a proposed urban renewal program that would have demolished Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market. The office’s mandate was to coordinate Seattle’s historic preservation programs and administer the city’s landmark boards and historic districts. When DCD was abolished in 1992, the office became the Historic Preservation Program in the Department of Neighborhoods.

Pike Place Market was established in 1907 to give local farmers a venue in which to sell their produce. It thrived for decades, but began to decline during World War II due to the effects of a major fire and the internment of Japanese American farmers. In the 1960s, urban renewal plans aimed to demolish the market and replace it with office towers and apartments. Citizen opposition, led by architect Victor Steinbrueck, managed to derail the scheme. A 1971 ballot measure sponsored by a group called Friends of the Market was passed, leading to the market’s preservation as part of a Market Historical District and listing on the National Register. Today the market is the oldest continuously operating public market in the United States, as well as the most historically authentic. The Office of Urban Conservation, and later the Historic Preservation Program, provided staffing to the Pike Place Market Historical Commission.